Hinchliffe sentence goes to Appeal Court

By Kate Rankine, Deputy City Editor

12:01AM BST 29 May 2003

The case of Stephen Hinchliffe, the former chairman of the collapsed Facia retail group who was recently given a suspended jail sentence, has been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General.

The Serious Fraud Office yesterday confirmed that Lord Goldsmith had taken action on the ground that the 15-month suspended sentence was "unduly lenient".

Two months ago, Mr Hinchliffe, 53, pleaded guilty at an Old Bailey hearing to one charge of conspiracy to defraud Facia, admitting to a personal benefit of £1.75m. His guilty plea followed Judge Jeremy Roberts indicating that he would pass a suspended sentence of around 15 months.

In February 2001, Mr Hinchliffe was jailed for five years for corruption after he bribed his bank manager to get a £8.5m loan to build up his "ramshackle" business empire. The sentence was later reduced to four years by the Court of Appeal, and he was released on licence in March.

Two months ago, Judge Roberts said that the public interest had already been served and suspending the sentence would save the taxpayer the "enormous expense" of a trial. He estimated that the cost might be as much as £10m.